William halkyaed



(No HodelJ W. HALKYARD. ,Button Hook.

1. No. 241,977. Patented May 24, 1881.

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UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HALKYARD, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

BUTTON-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,977, dated May 24,1881.

Application filed September 523, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HALKYARD, of the city and county ofProvidence, State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Button -Hooks; and I hereby declare that the followin gisafull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention has reference to that class of button-hooks which is usedfor shoes, and is secured by means of prongs forming part of thebuttonahook.

The object of the invention is to so construct these'prongs withreference to the hook that the broad face of the prongs shall be in thedirection of the strain, so as to prevent tearing of the material.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the button-hookand the location of the prongs, as will be more fully set forthhereinafter.

Figure I is a perspective View of my improved button-hook. Fig. 2 is aside view of the same. Fig. 3 is a top view, and Fig. 4 is a View of theblank out of which the buttonhook is made.

In button-hooks as heretofore constructed the prongs were made withoutany special reference as to their position and bearing on the materialwhen strain is exerted on the hook, and when one of the prongs happenedto be so located that the strain exerted on the hook would be resistedby the broad side of the prong, all the strain was resisted by the prongso located, as the other prongs had a tendency to cut the leather orother material, their edges being more or less in the direction of thestrain.

To secure uniform resistance on each prong and so increase the strengthof the fastening by placing the flat sides of all the prongs at rightangle with the line of the strain, and secure the button-hook by bendingthe forward prong between the two rear prongs, is the oh- 4 5 ject ofthis invention.

In the drawings, (t represents the head or button; b, the neck againstwhich the string lies and on which the strain is exerted.

c is the metal plate, which rests on theleather or other material towhich the deviceis secured.

d d are the rear prongs, placed one on each side of the neck b, and bentso that their wide sides are on a line at right angle with the line ofthe strain, or at right angle with a line through the center of thebutton and neck.

6 is the forward prong placed on a line parallel with the wide face ofthe rear prongs.

As the strain is equally divided on all the prongs, the fastening ismuch stronger than fastenin gs otherwise constructed.

In bending the prongs to secure the button hook by clinching, the tworear prongs are not bent inward toward the center, but are bent in adirection parallel to the direction (if the strain on the line new.(Shown in Fig. 4.) The rear portion of the plate 0 is therefore widerthan was u ed heretofore, and forms a better resistance to the tiltingstrain exerted on this class of buttons. Another advantage incidental toplacing the prongs as described consists in that the rear prongs clinchon material on each side of the line of strain, and thus secure a widerbearing underthe material than is the case when these prongs areclinched inward.

Having thus described myin vention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Pateat- The described button-hook, composed of a singlethickness of metal throughout, and having the head a, the neck b, theplate 0, and the three prongs d d e disposed as shown, with their flator broadest faces at right angles to the line of the strain.

WILLIAM HALKYARD.

Witnesses JOSEPH A. MILLER, J osEPHA. MILLER, Jr.

